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• How to reduce your power bill by at least 25%

  Brynn Neilson | December 8th 2016

  

  The average home in NZ uses about 27 kilowatt hours of electricity a day. It's really easy to reduce your power bill because most of the power you're using is wasted. Here's some quick ways to reduce power:

  What to reduce

  Hot Water

  Hot water uses a lot of power because it has a 1000 - 2000 watt element to heat the water. For years my Mum would turn on the hot water before she went to bed and turn it off in the morning because it would be hot enough to use the entire day without reheating. I installed a timer on mine so it turns on at 6am and off at 10am and I never run out of hot water.

  Appliances

  Many appliances like TVs and computers use power even if you've switched them off. If you switch them off at the wall you'll be surprised at how much power you'll save and it will also reduce the risk of fire.

  Power Packs

  Those power packs we use to charge our phones and gadgets are like mini heaters that use power even if your gadgets aren't plugged into them. Either unplug them or turn them off at the wall. Better still, don't use them at all, use the USB on your TV or computer to charge your gadgets.

  Power Plan

  Most people are on an "anytime" power plan. Sounds good, but what it actually means is you pay around 7c more per kilowatt hour for your hot water cylinder. So if it uses 12 Kw hours a day that equates to about  $97.20 in hot water power instead of the $72.00 you'd pay if you changed to a "Controlled" power plan and you won't even notice any difference but reduce your bill by about $25 per month.

  Make it easier

  Remote Control Power

  I use a simple remote control power switch so when I leave my office I can press one button and all the power is physically turned off for non-essential things like computers, printers and monitors. At home, I press the button for the lounge and my TV and Freeview Box come on. When I go to bed I press one button and everything is turned off. Search Ebay for Remote Control Power.

  Power Time Switch

  My hot water turns on at 6am so when I get up at 7am my shower is ready. My coffee machine turns on at 7am so when I get out of the shower my coffee is ready. They both automatically turn off when I don't need them. All done with a simple power timer. Search Ebay for a digital power time switch. 

  Electricity Meter

  If you'd like to know how much power your appliances are actually using you can get an  electricity meter. We used one of these in our office to identify what appliances we'd replace first with more energy efficient models and also to work out how much each device was costing us each month. Search Ebay for Electricty Meter.

  Conclusion

  By following these simple steps and doing some other more technical stuff I reduced my monthly office power bill from $2000 to $200. My home power bill is $50 per month.

  As a matter of interest I thought you might like to see my office power usage for 2016:

  Our power usage is nearly exactly the same every day. The only reason it peaks so much from May to October is because we're using electric heaters. They are the only difference. Next year we'll be replacing those with something more efficient.

  In my next blog I'll show you how to slowly invest in solar and start moving off the grid entirely so you don't have to pay a power bill.

  
  
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